Richo says Souths can win the premiership without Sir Wayne

They missed out on signing Wayne Bennett, but despite that, Souths Chief Executive Shane Richardson believes that Souths can win the premiership without the master-coach at the helm.

For Richo, he believes that their primary target, Matt Maguire – who is expected to sign within the next three days, has the coaching arsenal to lead the Bunnies to a premiership during his tenure with the club.

“We can do it without Wayne Bennett,” Richardson said.

“We haven’t been building up a team hoping Wayne Bennett can come in and win it for us.

“It would’ve been nice to have Wayne Bennett as a coach, but well have someone else in charge who I think will be outstanding.

“The great thing that Bennett was able to do was deliver for St George.

“But that doesn’t mean [it’s] guaranteed he will deliver one for Newcastle.”

Despite no official deal being made as of yet, Wigan owner and chairman says that if Maguire and Souths officially sign the deal, then the club will not stand in the way of Maguire’s departure.

“Ian would not have let things go this far if there was a problem,” a source close to negotiations said.

Despite nothing official as of yet, Richardson is confident that any coach that the club gets, they will be able to guide the Bunnies to a premiership.

“I’m absolutely confident well get the right person to lead the club,” Richardson said.

“We’ve turned all the stones and we’ve seen what’s under them.

“And were absolutely confident well get the right person to coach.

“I think what the fans want more than anything is a good coach. We’ve gone through the right process of getting the best coach.

“We’ll have a decision on that in the next 72 hours. A finalisation decision. It’s not far away.”